Fifth Wednesday in Lent - John 12:1-8

Pastor Gayle M. Pope

The Road of Anticipation

To be a good basketball player – or a good basketball team for that matter – you have to be good at anticipating. You’re always thinking ahead. Where is the ball heading and how can I get there before it does? What’s going to happen next and how can I stop it, or help it along?

Your senses are alert. You can’t afford to be preoccupied with the mistake you just made. You have to concentrate on what’s happening now and what is likely to happen next. That’s one kind of anticipation.

Anticipation also means expectation. Sometimes it’s practical or logical, as in, “We anticipate an early spring,” or “We anticipate a profitable year.

Sometimes anticipation involves your physical senses. When you anticipate a good meal, your mouth actually waters. When you anticipate seeing a loved one after a long absence, your heart may start beating faster. When you anticipate speaking before an audience, you may break out in a sweat.

OR – anticipation can just be a feeling that something is about to happen – like an intuition. It may be positive – exciting, hopeful, tantalizing – or it may be negative – a sense of apprehension or fear.

Whatever the case may be, when you walk down the road of anticipation, you are always looking ahead with senses alert – getting ready for what is to come.

The gospel story we heard tonight carries a strong sense of anticipation. The setting is a dinner given for Jesus at the home of Lazarus, whom Jesus had recently raised from the dead. There was reason for celebration, and yet, all was not well.

By this point in Jesus’ ministry, he had threatened the Jewish authorities enough that they were already plotting to put him to death. In fact, they had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus was should let them know, so that they might arrest him. And not only that, they soon would be planning to kill Lazarus as well, since he was a living reminder of Jesus’ power and authority.

Yes, by this time in his life journey, Jesus was clearly on the road of anticipation leading to the cross. But he was not afraid. He was determined and confident – confident enough to travel to Bethany, just a few miles from Jerusalem, where he knew the authorities would be looking for him.

What a mix of emotions must have been present that night … joy over Lazarus’ return from the dead … awe and adoration for Jesus who had brought him back … but also a sense of trouble brewing.

Into this setting comes Mary with a pound of high quality perfume that cost nearly a year’s wages – the type of strong, fragrant perfume that could be used to anoint a body after death. But Mary pours the perfume out on the feet of the living Jesus, anointing them and wiping them with her hair.

It was an extravagant act of love and devotion. When Judas criticized her, Jesus said “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.” Did Mary literally go out and purchase that perfume so that she would have it to anoint Jesus after he died? Or was it more like the Spirit prompted her without her knowing why? And if it was to be used after Jesus’ death, why did she pour it out on the living Jesus?

Those details aren’t so important. What is significant is that Jesus himself connects Mary’s lavish act of love with his own anticipated death. Whether Mary was conscious of it or not, she was responding to Jesus with a sense of anticipation that he might not be around much longer.

She was alert to the signs of the times and took advantage of the opportunity to express her adoration without reservation – no matter the cost to her pocketbook or her reputation.

Anticipation opens us up to the world around us and leaves us poised for action – whether deliberate, like Jesus heading to Jerusalem to lay down his life – or spontaneous, like Mary, seizing the moment to show love while she could.

So … where are you on the road of anticipation? What are you expecting of Jesus? What do you anticipate that God is expecting of you? Are you alert and open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in your life? Are you prepared to follow God’s call with courage and determination even if you anticipate rough waters? Are you ready to respond with spontaneous love when the opportunity arises?

What is happening in your life right now? How might a sense of anticipation of God’s action in those events help you prepare for what may come?

So often we cannot really anticipate the future. We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen to us from day to day or from moment to moment. But we CAN anticipate that God WILL be present in each moment willing to make all things work together for good … willing to bring life, healing, wholeness, reconciliation.

We know this because the death that Jesus rightly anticipated was not the end of his journey. He also anticipated his resurrection, knowing that God was about to conquer death forever.

And because of Jesus’ resurrection, those who believe in him can ALWAYS walk the road of anticipation with hope and without fear, no matter where it leads, knowing that God is within us and beside us each step of the way. Amen.